Our ExpeditionVehicle:

Having owned a number of Land Rovers over the years, it was the obvious choice for us. However although most people choose the Tdi model we decided to go for the Td5. The Land Rover Defender is the classic, romantic Africa overland vehicle. Although fitted with a Td5 engine she is still pretty basic, very solid and still quite easy to fix. We purchased "Jambo Mbili" as we call her, new in February 2005. Jambo is a LHD "S" model Station Wagon with factory fitted air conditioning, ABS/ETC, winter pack (heated front screen and seats) and alloy wheels with 235 85 R16" tyres.

In preparation for our adventures we fitted/modified the following parts:

  • Removed the 4 inward facing seats from the rear section. The normal 3 person rear passenger seat is a 60/40 split and we removed the smaller section, reducing the number of seats from 9 to 4.
  • A galvanized full length extended roof rack is fitted. This model spreads the load over a larger area and has extra reinforcing bars. Not as good looking as the more expensive aluminum models, but you can make up brackets easily and if needed they can be welded in any typical back street African workshop.
  • To carry the extra weight over rough roads and tracks, OME uprated suspension units and heavy duty 50mm lift coil springs have been fitted.
  • Heavy duty rear swing-away wheel carrier.
  • Aluminum sump guard and steering protector.
  • Warn X9000 CE electric winch.
  • Heavy duty winch bumper.
  • Checker plate bonnet and wing protectors.
  • Safari Snorkle.
  • 45 litre under wing auxiliary fuel tank. Total capacity 120litres.
  • 44 litre stainless steel under wing water tank.
  • Exterior rear side window security guards
  • Internal rear door and small rear window security guards.
  • Ezi-Awn XL roof tent.
  • Awning with front and side panels, makes a great room for eating, sleeping etc.
  • Roof mounted jerry-cans 2 x 20lt fuel & 2 x 20lt water.
  • Inverter 220v - 300w for laptop, cameras etc.
  • 220v - 12v converter
  • 4 extra 12v power take-offs
  • Extra fuse box with 6 connectors
  • Extra spare wheel mounted on roof rack.
  • Garmin 276C GPS unit.
  • 48 channel CB radio.
  • Steel divider between passenger area and rear of vehicle.
  • Engel 12v/220v fridge/freezer on purpose made mounting platform.
  • Storage shelf and racks in rear section.
  • BF Goodrich 235 85 R16" All Terrain tyres x 6.

Notes:

Suspension: Most people fit a 50mm suspention lift kit as we did, there are those that feel that this can make a vehicle unstable when fully loaded on poor roads or tracks. However its worth baring in mind that with all the extra weight that one carries on an overland trip, the normal suspension will sit down by up to 50mm thereby reducing ground clearance. With a 50mm lift fitted the vehicle will have almost the same ground clearance as a standard vehicle but with all the added weight onboard.

Jerry-cans: Although we fitted a 45 litre auxiliary fuel tank we knew that sometimes even our 120 litre fuel capacity would not be sufficent. Driving in soft sand takes a lot of fuel and it is always best to have sufficent reserves so we mounted jerry-cans on the roof, which we only filled when necessary. The same can be said for water so again we had extra jerry's on the roof just in case.

Equipment & Spares:

  • High lift jack
  • Land Rover jack
  • Wheel nut spyder
  • Tow rope with "D" shackles
  • Wheel chock
  • Extra spare wheel
  • Tubeless tyre repair kit
  • 2 x inner tubes just in case
  • 2 x heavy duty tyre levers
  • 2 sets of filters
  • Engine and transmission oils

Comprehensive tool kit plus:

  • Spare nuts, bolts, threaded rod, cable ties, jubilee clips, electrical connectors etc. etc.
  • Cordless drill/screwdriver
  • 12v soldering iron
  • Duct tape, electrical tape
  • Bungie cords, tie down straps and paracord.

Cooking:

  • Two burner stove mounted on the inside of the rear door.
  • Two gas bottles, one Camping Gas and one bottle we bought in Morocco on a previous trip. Both can be filled along the way at bottled gas plants, even in Africa!
  • Kelly kettle
  • Usual pots, pans, cutlery and crockery plus cups, mugs and glasses.